Welcome To Adulthood! Series

“I felt my heart strangely warmed,” he wrote. “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Wesley was no longer in slavery under the basic principles of the world. He had become a son!

II. God’s Action through Christ (4:2-7)

Second, let’s note God’s action through Christ.

Thankfully, God did not leave us under the law. He stepped into history and liberated us from the law’s bondage over us.

A. The Perfect Time (4:4a)

The first thing to note about God liberating us from the law’s bondage over us is that he did so at the perfect time.

God stepped into history, as the apostle Paul says in verse 4a, “when the time had fully come.” When Jesus was born, everything was just right for the arrival of the Messiah.

The time was right religiously. The Greek and Roman gods were incapable of satisfying people’s spiritual hunger, and the Law of Moses for the Jews had shown them their utter inability to keep its perfect standards.

The time was also right politically. Rome had instituted the pax Romana (Roman peace), which provided economic and political stability. In addition, a road system was in place that afforded ease of travel over much of the region.

And finally, the time was right culturally. Greek was the lingua franca, the common language, throughout much of the Mediterranean world.

B. The Best Way (4:4b-7)

God stepped into history at the perfect time, and he did so in the best way by doing two things.

1. He sent his Son (4:4b-5)

First, God sent his Son.

Paul says in verse 4b, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law.”

Jesus Christ was sent to earth by the Father to join miraculously with a sinless human nature in the womb of a woman named Mary. At that moment, the Son of God also became the Son of Man. This God-man, Jesus Christ, was subject to the Mosaic Law. Yet, unlike all who preceded him and all who followed, he met the law’s requirements perfectly. Consequently, Christ’s divinity, humanity, and righteousness uniquely qualified him “to redeem those under the law” (4:5a).

As commentator John Stott explains, “If he had not been man, he could not have redeemed men. If he had not been a righteous man, he could not have redeemed unrighteous men. And if he had not been God’s Son, he could not have redeemed men for God or made them the sons of God.”

Why did the Father send Christ to purchase us from the slave market of sin? Why did God sacrifice so much for souls as unworthy as us? Paul explains the reason to us in verse 5b. It was so “that we might receive the full rights of sons.”

Because he is merciful and loving, God desired to make us members of his everlasting family. By believing in his Son, we become his spiritual sons.

III. Paul’s Appeal to Christians (4:8-11)

Finally, with this groundwork now laid, Paul appeals Christians to live as sons and not as slaves.

Paul was concerned that the Galatians were turning back to the basic principles of the world again. He notes in verse 10 that they were “observing special days and months and seasons and years!” They were striving to obey the calendar of events laid out in the Mosaic Law in order to earn their salvation.